Combination test panel and polyphase meter trim



Sept. 28 1926. 1,601,606

F. J. wALLER TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT IM Sept. 28 1926.

F. J. WALLER COMBINATION TEST PANEL AND POLYPHASE METER TRIM Filed April 5, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZIN Sept. 28 v 1926. 1,601,666

F. J. WALLER COMBINATION TEST PANEL AND POLYPHASE METER TRIM Filed April 5,21923 3 sheets-sheet .3

Patented Sept. 28, 1926.

UNITED STATES FRANK J'. WALLER, OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA.

COMBINATION TEST PANEL AND POLYPHASE METER TRIM.

Application med April 5,

My present invention is a combined test panel and meter trim, and it is a special object of this invention to provide a unitary and attractive structure which shallr not only prevent the unsightly and dangerous exposure of conductive elements connected with al meter but which shall also include means to facilitate the testing of meters, and especially polyphase meters, Without interruption of service.

In many communities, legislation has forbidden the use of exposed wiring, but even where the ordinary conductors and connections are required to be and are in fact completely insulated and concealed, it is not unusual to find dangerously exposed wires and connections in the immediate vicinity of a meter, or in the vicinity of the switch or other circuit breaking means which is commonly installed adjacent thereto. It is ac-y cordingly an object of the present invention to provide a simple yand comparatively inexpensive trim by which the ends of the wires leading to and from a meter and to and from a suitable set of circuit closing elements may be covered and concealed; and, in my preferred form, I provide a back plate which is adapted to receive alternatively any one of a variety of meters, and in connection with this back plate I employ trim plates, which may be arranged on opposite vsides of the meter, and may be adapted to separate removal and replacement,*al1 of the major parts above referred to being roptionally made of sheet metal.

It is a further objectof my invention to provide, adjacent to a. meter and preferably connected with a back plate to which said meter may be secured, a box or cabinet or compartment adapted to contain notk only means by which the circuit or circuits with which the meter is connected may be closed or opened but also, in my preferred embodiment, means, also within the ment-ioned cabinet, which may enable the parts Vreferred to to be used as a test panel, the construction last referred to being especially advantageous in the testing of polyphase meters.

It is a further object of this invention to provide novel features of detail contributive to the purposes abovedescribed and to my broad object of combining a safe and attractive meter trim with a test panel and circuit closing means suitably protected and confined within a receptacle which may be 1923. Serial No. 630,103.

provided with a hinged cover adapted to be locked or sealed.

Other objects of my invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof and the appended claims, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is an elevation, showing the parts of my invention as assembled and secured to a wall, no meter and no wiring being shown.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view shown in Fig. l.k

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, as seen from the direction indicated by the arrow 3 on Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5 5 of Fig. l.

Fig. 6 is an elevation corresponding to Fig. l, but ,showing the test cabinet open and showing a meter installed. One of the possible wiring connections is shown, and the mode vof usingVa test meter or other comparison instrument in connection with the test panel is suggested by means of dotted lines.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are respectively elevations and top and bottom views of a preferred type of conductive plug to be used in my apparatus.

Fig. l() is a sectional view corresponding to Fig. 7.

Fig. 1l is a corresponding view of a plug modified to serve for the connection of an independent comparison instrument.

Referring in detail to the parts of that specific form of my invention which I have selected for illustration, l is a back plate, which may be secured and grounded by means such as the screws 2, and may be provided with. posts 3, which may be welded thereto and tapped and threaded to permit the employment of screws l as a meansfor securing the trim plates 5, 5; and the bacl: plate l may also be provided at the bottom with a horizontal extension 6 provided with apertures adapted to receive securing means such as the bolts 7 by which the body of the cabinet 8, having a hinged front or cover 9, may be secured thereto.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that my invention consistsV essentially of a cabinet, within whichy a panel may be supof the parts Cil ported, and a back plate adapted to support a meter and provided with trim plates covering the connections from said cabinet to said meter; and in order to adapt my device to use in connection with meters ot' various types` I may provide the back plate 1 with suitably spaced perforations 10, shown as arranged in pairs thereon, and suitably spaced to receive different makes of meters referred to, and in order to facilitate the removal of either of the trim plat-es '3, 5 when wiring connections are being made or altered, I may pr vide, near the top of each of these plates, a key-hole slot 11, whose widest portion 1Q may be of sutiicient diameter to 1 ermit the head of the screw si, upon the mentioned post 8, to pass therethrough. fr similar construction may be employed at the bottoms of the respective plates 5, where I have shown key-hole slots 13 adapted to cooperate with the bolts le, extending through the top plate 15 of the cabinet and optionally secured by means of the wing nuts 16 on the lower side thereof.

It will be understood that the trim plates 5 are alike except as they are adapted to go on opposite sides of the meter, and to facilitate the bringing of wiring connections from the cabinet tothe meter, the upper portions of the sides 17, 1T of the plates referred to are cut away, and no bottoms are provided.

lVithin the cabinet S, any suitable means for opening and closing circuits may be provided; but, for this purpose, I prefer to provide the specific organization which I will now describe, my preferred organization being such as to permit not only the making and breaking of circuits, but the testing of the meter associated therewith. In thel back plate 1S of the cabinet S I may provide not only small apertures adapted to receive the securing screws 19 but also additional apertures 2O surrounded by inwardly extending bosses 2l, adapted to receive the heads of screws i12, by which a` plate Q3 of insulating material, such as bakelite, may be secured. In order to support pairs of conductive plates or receptacles Qt, 2st from the insulating element 23, I may embed in the latter the heads of screws 25, adapted to extend forward through apertures 26 in the conductive plates'or receptacles and to cooperate with nuts 2T.

In my preferred construction, I provide tapered apertures or sockets 2S in the mentioned receptacles.; and when I form the latter by casting, I prefer to cast a pair of them comprising two terminal apertures and one central aperture, as a unit, and thereafter separate the two halves, 2st, Ql, by sawing or otherwise cutting upon a line, extending through the median aperture or 'socket Q9. By this construction it will be obvious that, for example, when one of the plates constituting a pair is connected with line wire and the other plate is connected with the meter, the maintenance of a circuit through the meter will depend upon the insertion of a suitable plug in the median aperture L9, to bridge the gap which has resulted from the sawing of the plates therethrough. It will also be apparent that whenever the meter comprised in an installation of the character referred to is to undergo a test, suitablev plugs connected with the test instrument may be inserted in the terminal apertures 2h. Upon the subsequent removal of the condire tive plug from the aperture Q9. it will he obvious that, without an interruption of the current through the apparatus with which the leads from the meter may he. connected. the test instrument and the regularly iii-- stalled meter may be placed in series for purposes of comparison.

At the bottom of the test cabinet and at the ends thereof I prefer to provide knockout plates 30; and when cables 31, having strands 31a, are to be inserted through any of these openings, a suitable insulating bushing 32 should be provided. Insulating bushings 33 are also shown in the openings 34, through which the conductive wires 35, 35 pass from the test cabinet to and from the meter M, but conduit connections may be preferred. i

Except when the conductive plugs which connect the complemental sections Q4, Qi', are to be withdrawn, or when a meter is to be tested (as suggested in dotted lines in Fig. 6) or when other changes are to be made, the door 9, shown as provided with an extension front 36 to allow ample -room for plugs and connections, may be secured by means such as the bolt 3T, secured atv its inner end, as by welding, and extending through a suitable aperture 38 in the door 9, this bolt being 'shown as provided with a wing nut 39. Both the bolt and the wing nut may be provided with an aperture s0. to permit the sealing of the cabinet.

Vhile I have described in detail one preferred embodiment of the present invention` it will be understood that various modilications might be made in each of the elements described, and that various features of my invention might be independently employed. Any one of a great variety of wiring connections might be utilized; and as indicated above, the back plate to which thev associated parts of my invention are secured is preferably provided in advance with alternative apertures, suitably spaced to provide for the attachment of any one of several polyphase meters already on the market.

lhat is claimed is:

l. A meter mounting and test panel comprising in combination a substantially rectangular back plate having a rectangular cabinet formed on the lower end thereof, the said cabinet having top7 side and bottom Walls, the back plate forming a back wall. the top Wall having a series of apertures for wires, a ypair of separate trim plates each having front, side and top walls with an open base adapted to fit on top of the top wall of the cabinet and over the said apertures, the facing side walls having openings adapted for lead wires, the said trim plates bein(T s aced apart leaving a space on the baci plate for an electric meter.

2. A meter mounting and test panel comprising in combination a substantially rectangular back plate, a rectangular cabinet at the lower end thereof having top, bottoni and side walls extending outwardly from the back plate, the back plate forming the back wall of the cabinet, a series of apertures through the top wall of the cabinet adjacent each end, apertures through the side Walls of the cabinet for line wires, a cover attached to the cabinet, a pair of separate trim plates each having opposite side front and top walls and having an open base, a slot formed in the front wall of each trim plate, screws secured to the back plate adapted to fit the said slots and to adjust the said trim plates towards and from each other, openings in the adjacent sides of the trim plates for wires, the base of the plates resting on the top of the cabinet over the apertures and the said trim plates being adjustable laterally to form a spacing for a meter therebetween.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FRANK J. WALLER. 

